Backlash Over Factory Remark — The Unexpectedly Sad Story Behind New York’s Controversy

“Why haven’t we been canceled yet?” he joked—only to be proven wrong moments later

On September 21, comments made by comedian Hiromasa Yashiki of the duo “New York” on their official YouTube show “New York no New Radio” were criticized online for allegedly expressing occupational discrimination, sparking backlash on social media.

The controversy began when the pair discussed how fellow comedy duo “Chocolate Planet” had recently been forced to apologize and shave their heads after saying:

“Ordinary people shouldn’t be on social media.”

During the conversation, Yashiki (39) said:

“If a casual, radio-style comment like that can cause such an uproar, then why haven’t we been canceled yet? This radio show should’ve been burned down by now.”

His partner Kazunari Shimasa (39) agreed:

“Yeah, if something like that can blow up, we might not even be able to do radio anymore.”

Yashiki then went on to explain why, in his view, society had become so quick to outrage, quoting comments made by editor Kousuke Minowa of Gentosha Publishing:

“These days, for example, there are lots of people who work in factories making screws or whatever, and they don’t really know what the meaning of their work is. Most people can’t really imagine how what they produce reaches consumers and makes them happy.”

He continued, quoting Minowa’s perspective:

“So, a lot of people tend to project themselves onto others’ lives. That’s why they get so deeply into fandoms—cheering for someone’s success as if it were their own. And when that person gets caught in a scandal or falls from grace, they feel genuinely crushed. In some cases, seeing someone else fall gives them a sense of being alive. That’s why more people are addicted to watching scandals and downfalls.”

Although Yashiki was clearly referencing Minowa’s remarks as an example—introducing them with “Here’s one opinion I heard”—many online interpreted the comments as his own discriminatory view, which soon led to widespread criticism.

Despite the backlash, the video only has 67,000 views

However, online, many interpreted Yashiki’s remarks as if he had personally said that people who make things like screws are the ones causing online outrage. As a result, social media and video comment sections were soon filled with criticism:

“My friend works in a screw factory. Please stop making discriminatory remarks about people’s jobs.”

“I can’t believe there are people who can’t respect those who make screws — I just don’t get that mindset.”

The biggest uproar broke out on X (formerly Twitter) and on the message board 5ch. According to one IT journalist:

“For instance, one post on X that’s been viewed over three million times looks like it links to New York’s controversial YouTube video, but when you click it, it actually redirects you to the poster’s own news site. And in that article, Minowa’s name is completely omitted — it makes it sound like Yashiki said those words himself. Those posts kept getting reposted and spread, which likely caused this whole controversy.”

Curiously, while Yashiki’s remarks were going viral and cancelled on social media, the actual YouTube video in question had only 67,000 views as of September 25 — quite low compared to the duo’s usual numbers.

For comparison, when comedian Seiji Chihara (55) was slammed in July for calling Saitama City Council member Yusuke Kawai (44) a former bullied kid, that video gained 1.4 million views in just 10 days. Given that, the current video’s view count hardly looks like one that’s truly on fire.

“Most people who saw the clipped posts on X likely didn’t even watch New York’s actual video before commenting and spreading it,”

explained a showbiz insider.

“Recently, Yoshimoto comedians like Seiji Chihara and Chocolate Planet have been stirring controversy online. Some internet users seem to jump on the trend, thinking, ‘It’s fine to bash Yoshimoto comedians.’ But when things get cut out of context like this and blow up, the production company doesn’t even know how to respond. People at Yoshimoto were really at a loss.”

Ironically, during that very same video, New York had said,

“You never know when you’ll get canceled, so we should start thinking about our second careers.”

They probably never imagined those words would come true in such a way.